Lawmakers have approved a one-year extension of the California Film and Television Tax Credit Program, which had been slated to expire in 2012. This means that the credit–designed to help the Golden State keep and attract production–now runs through 2013. California’s credit, against income or sales taxes or both, covers up to 25 percent of production budgets spent in the state and applies to feature films with production budgets of up to $75 million, along with movies for television, TV miniseries and certain episodic series. Commercials remain ineligible for the California anti-runaway production program which allocates $100 million in tax credits annually. For the current fiscal year, the entire $100 million was allotted to 27 projects on day one (June 1) of the 2011 filing period for the program. Assorted other projects are currently on a wait list. While the film/television industry welcomed the news of an extension, the one additional year granted is a far cry from the original proposal, vigorously lobbied for by the Motion Picture Association of America and other groups, which called for a five-year extension….Eron Broughton has joined David&Goliath, Los Angeles, as associate creative director. In this newly created role at the agency, Broughton will be working on the Kia and Carl’s Jr. accounts, reporting to David&Goliath’s executive creative director, Colin Jeffery. Earlier, Broughton was a senior art director at Saatchi & Saatchi Australia, where he worked on Toyota, Lexus, Cadbury, Sony and Fox Sports, among others. After that, he spent some time at San Francisco-based agency Butler, Shine, Stern & Partners where he completed work for MINI and YP.com….
Director Cassandra Brooksbank Joins Monument Content For Spots and Branded Content
Monument Content has signed director Cassandra “Cassie” Brooksbank for U.S. representation spanning commercials and branded content. She brings to her directing and storytelling the experience and skills of a writer, conceptual artist, editor and visual effects artist.
Her body of work as a director includes Pepsi’s “Selfie” featuring Lionel Messi amid a flurry of fans, Barclays madcap women’s Soccer League spot where she collaborated closely with the agency to develop the creative, ultimately winning the Grand Jury Prize at the Sports Industry Awards, and a grass-roots campaign for Fellow Coffee. The latter just didn’t brew buzz; it helped raise $1.2 million on Kickstarter.
Prior to joining Monument Content, Brooksbank had been repped in the U.S. for commercials by production house Hey Wonderful.
On the long-form front, she is repped by CAA for film and television. And on the horizon is her debut feature, My Masterpiece, produced by Sylvester Stallone’s Balboa Productions and backed by Amazon.
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